MLB News: Fernando Valenzuela’s Death Spurs Memories From Former Teammates

The death of Fernando Valenzuela on Tuesday brought several of his teammates out of the woodwork to share their memories of playing with the left-handed pitcher nicknamed “El Toro.”

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Some sentiments were short and to the point, like the Twitter/X post from a fellow pitcher-turned-broadcaster, Rick Sutcliffe. He and Valenzuela were on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitching staff from 1980-81.

“Crying,” Sutcliffe wrote. “Yes I loved this Man🙏❤️”

“Played with him in the Angels organization,” wrote Ruben Amaro Jr., the former outfielder who later became the Philadelphia Phillies’ general manager. “Wonderful man. Funniest teammate. Had a chance to be with him some earlier this year. Same wise guy as always. Will be sorely missed. RIP Fernando. 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽”

Others were given a longer runway to share their memories of Valenzuela.

“You wonder how much one player can reverberate through the ranks and still affect other players that didn’t know him real well. … It was just astounding how players were attached to the radio at times,” said Steve Sax, Valenzuela’s teammate in Los Angeles from 1981-88, in an interview with MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM. “I remember Ducky LeJohn (the manager of the Double-A San Antonio Dodgers) had a TV in the dugout that they rigged up — they actually had a TV in the dugout — so we could catch anything Fernando was doing. That’s how captivating Fernando was even to other players. He was just unreal.”

Former Dodgers catcher Mike Scioscia, speaking to AM-570 in Los Angeles, recalled the night of June 29, 1990, when Oakland A’s pitcher Dave Stewart completed a no-hitter in Toronto as Valenzuela was warming up to face the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium.

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“We’re watching the last, like, four, five pitches in our video room before we went out there to get loose,” Scioscia recalled. “Fernando is walking by because he’s going to the bullpen. … He pokes his head in. Dave Stewart finished his no-hitter and Fernando says, ‘you saw one on TV; now you’re going to see one in person.’ And he goes down there and warms up and ended up throwing a no-hitter.

“That was a special time for all of us, particularly Fernando,” Scioscia recalled. “A lot of people don’t realize in 1988 he hurt his arm in May and didn’t pitch for us that whole year and we ended up winning the World Series. So he was coming back from this serious arm injury, came back, and pitched a long time after that. That was a big night for all of us to see him go out there and be part of a no-hitter.”

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Ron Cey, who played third base behind Valenzuela from 1980-82, has a unique perspective on Valenzuela’s place in franchise history. After his career with the Dodgers ended, he remained with the organization in marketing and community relations.

Cey shared this perspective with MLB Network Radio on Sirius/XM.

“When (the Dodgers) moved west back in 1958, we’re in brand-new territory,” Cey said. “So to have a Hispanic player come to the top and create a new audience, essentially, to come to Dodger Stadium was a big deal. And of course we’ve been hit hard here the last five or six years with deaths in the Dodger family, going back to Lou Johnson, Tommy Davis, Don Newcombe, Vin Scully, Tom Lasorda and now Fernando … we’ve been hit hard and they all made very significant contributions to our history.”